The Debating Chamber of the Council of Europe in the Palais de l'Europe, Strasbourg, seat of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe.

In 1966, Pierre Pflimlin, President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, lays the foundation stone of the ‘Palais des Droits de l'Homme’ in Strasbourg, the building destined to house the European Commission and Court of Human Rights. To his right, Eugène Schaus, President of the Committee of Ministers. To his left, Ludovico Benvenuti, outgoing Secretary-General of the Council of Europe.

The first session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe is held under the provisional chairmanship of Édouard Herriot in the hall of Strasbourg University on 10 August 1949.

The ‘Maison de l'Europe' (House of Europe) in Strasbourg was the seat of the Council of Europe until 1977, before the Palais de l'Europe (Palace of Europe) was opened.

Photo of the Maison de l’Europe (left) and the new Palais de l’Europe (right), taken in October 1976 as building work was taking place inside the new building. The old building was demolished after the inauguration of the Palais de l’Europe in January 1977.

View of the meeting room of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, located in the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg, where the Foreign Ministers, or their delegates, of the organisation’s member States, hold their meetings.

Extract from the minutes of the Conference on the establishment of a Council of Europe, held at St James’s Palace in London from 3 to 5 May 1949, concerning the issue of the admission of additional members to the organisation.

Extract from the minutes of the Conference on the establishment of a Council of Europe, held at St James’s Palace in London from 3 to 5 May 1949, concerning the issue of the name of the organisation.

Extract from the minutes of the Conference on the establishment of a Council of Europe, held at St James’s Palace in London from 3 to 5 May 1949, concerning the issue of the organisation’s seat.

Extract from the minutes of the Conference on the establishment of a Council of Europe, held at St James’s Palace in London from 3 to 5 May 1949, concerning the issue of voting in the Committee of Ministers.

In his address, given on 28 January 1977 at the official opening ceremony of the new ‘Palais de l’Europe’ in Strasbourg, Georg Kahn-Ackermann, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, recalls the circumstances at the time of its building and describes the building’s function as the ‘headquarters of the Council of Europe, particularly of [the] Organisation’s Assembly; but it will also play host to the Parliament of the European Communities when it sits in Strasbourg.’

At the official opening ceremony of the ‘Palais de l’Europe’ on 28 January 1977, following the city’s donation to the European institutions of the building land required, Pierre Pflimlin, Mayor of Strasbourg, speaks on behalf of the people of Strasbourg, welcoming the new building, which has been designed to meet the requirements not only of the Council of Europe but also of the European Parliament and represents a promise of unity in the future.

Group photo of the Heads of State or Government of the member States of the Council of Europe taken at their meeting in Strasbourg on 10 and 11 October 1997 on the occasion of that organisation’s Second Summit.